Peace with God or Peace with the Devil

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel..."

Last, but not least, the Devil is our enemy who is a supernatural intelligence striving to destroy our joy and peace.  Even though Satan cannot steal our salvation, he will use the millions of deamons at his disposal to get us to either question the assurance of our salvation or to negatively impact our Christian walk to the degree that we are not a credible witness for Christ.  Satan is often referred to as tempter, prosecutor or accuser.  The Bible gives many examples of Satan’s techniques, so that we will not be unaware of his schemes.

One typical method he uses is to dredge up our past sinful behavior and try to make us question whether or not we are really a Christian at all.  He often uses our perceived lack of spiritual growth as a way to question the validity of our faith.  We must continually remind ourselves that greater is He that is within you then he who is in the world. (1John 4:4)

My purpose for this devotional is to ensure that one has the right expectation when they come to a saving knowledge of Christ.  When we are saved by grace through faith that is not the end to our struggles, rather, that is the beginning of our spiritual warfare. Before conversion we were not a threat to Satan and his kingdom, but now we have stepped onto the battlefield.  So be prepared for what the World, Flesh and the Devil will do, as they work together to hinder your Christian walk, and try to get you to focus more on your sins than on your Savior and the Gospel.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking of the Devil as the beast in the red suit with horns. That character of Satan was created in the Middle Ages to play on Satan’s perceived weakness of being too prideful.  Neither think of him as being omnipresent or omniscient and waiting for you around every corner. He is a worthy adversary, but he is under God’s control.  Just as you saw in the story of Job.